Her Beautiful Eyes
by Jewell Trim
Summary: It was only by chance that Darcy saw her, and only through a secondary source. However, the minute he had seen her, he wanted to know more of her...


**A/N: So I am an art student taking an advanced figure studies class. While I do go to a Christian based university, we do have models...wearing clothes. However, our latest model, a guy, decided to show more skin than what we have been used to in the past. Nothing scandalous or inappropriate. He wasn't nude, but I'm just glad we don't do nude drawings because honestly, it's distracting**

Darcy was stressed. With work and life outside of the office. All he wanted to time to just relax and spend time with his sister. Georgiana would spend the weekends at their family home from her university.

She was a freshman art student, concentrating in painting. From her youth, she'd draw and paint on small canvases, and her work took up the entire space of her studio at the house. Now nineteen, she was maturing and was tossing some of her earlier work to make room for her new ones.

Today, she was doing just that. Kissing her big brother on the cheek as soon as she stepped into the house, she quickly excused herself to drop off her canvas-size bag in her studio. Her eyes were bright with happiness which made Darcy happy in return.

"Good week?" he chuckled as he followed her to her studio.

She normally would bring home assignments to work on over the weekend, and he'd always get to see the work in progress till it was complete. As she painted, he'd sit in the corner on his designated bench and play the piano to give her something to work to.

It was how the siblings usually spent time with one another and he loved it.

Only, work had encroached on his time with his sister for the past two weekends and so she stayed in her dorm at school.

Darcy waited for his sister to unveil his latest work but she paused when she saw him behind her.

"Sorry Will, I don't think this should be shown outside of class." she gave him an apologetic look with a blush.

"Oh?" he rose an eyebrow, curious to know what the subject was. "What have you guys been painting in class these days? Have you moved on from still life and onto architect? If you're trying to surprise me with a painting of Pemberley, I think you'll be in hard competition with three-year-old Georgiana's chicken scratches." he chuckled.

"It's not a painting of a building, it's of... we're doing human models." she almost whispered the last part.

"That's what you want to do right?" he smiled. Though she did do amazing landscapes, her passion was people.

"It is, but the subject matter really shouldn't be shared outside of class."

Darcy was even more curious but figured that Georgiana was never going to say that she was doing nude model paintings, then he wouldn't force her.

"Just tell me it isn't a guy who is the model."

"It's not a guy."

"Then I'm fine... I mean I can rest easy knowing you aren't painting some guy." he corrected.

Georgiana giggled, "We're still drawing out the model and sectioning out the shading parts. We will be painting next week, but I want to get a head start."

Darcy nodded and allowed her privacy to pull out her large canvas and set it up. She heard her shuffle around and accidentally knock into something with a grunt before she sighed in satisfaction.

"Okay, you can look now, Will."

Darcy smiled and turned back around to see most of the canvas had been covered up except the face and an arm.

The woman in the picture looked to be in a reclining position and her eyes were open and smiling back at him. Her lips were turned up in humor and he couldn't help his exclamation.

"Beautiful," he said in a low voice.

"Thank you! I thought I captured her eyes and smile quite well. She was telling us a story that had us all laughing. I could barely keep my drawing hand from shaking." Georgiana grinned in excitement.

Darcy did his best to pull his gaze from the drawing. He looked down at his sister with a proud smile, "I don't know what she looks like in real life, but I'm sure you captured her perfectly."

"She's really beautiful," Georgiana said in a cheerful sigh, "And really nice."

"I guess this means I'm not allowed to be in the room today then?"

Georgiana came back from whatever memory she was in and looked back up at him.

"Huh? Oh, no you can play, Will. I'll just turn my easel stand around."

Darcy wasn't sure that was a better alternative is not seeing those beautiful eyes and smile, but he accepted and went to his seat.

He played the classic songs that Georgiana loved to paint to. After finishing up a Haydn piece, Darcy was interrupted from starting Beethoven.

"Will, could you actually play Back in Black ACDC?"

"What?" Will looked up from the music sheets, incredulous.

"Well, it's just that I want to listen to music that she listens to while I'm working on drawing her. Do you know how to play it?"

Will honestly didn't, "Sorry Georgie. How about I learn it for next time? Is that alright?"

"Sure, that's fine. In the meantime can you play this one? It's easy." Georgiana ran over to him with her phone with the music already pulled up.

"I don't think I've heard this song before."

"It's 'You Don't Own Me' by Grace. The model says she listens to this all the time. It's her theme song of sorts. Please?"

"Sure, I'll do my best."

Darcy looked over the music and it seemed easy enough to do.

He played it once for practice before he was playing it up to speed.

Across the room, he could hear Georgiana softly singing the words.

They continued on like this with Georgiana asking him to play it a few more times.

When she said she was finished for the day, Darcy was unfortunately not allowed to see the progress done.

He practiced on the keyboard he had in his room to get her other song request. After a few run-throughs he came back down for dinner and they ate with light conversation.

"So you're liking classes so far?"

"Oh yes! My classmates are nice and I love my RA. She's... she's great."

Darcy rose an eyebrow at her pause but decided to let it slide.

"So will I ever see the finished product for this project?"

"You can see her face." Georgiana teased.

"You're not going to hang it up?" Darcy asked in surprise. If her face was captivating alone, then the rest of her-

He stopped himself, remembering this was a nude painting assignment.

"It's a shame."

"I'm sure she won't mind if I ask her to do another portrait that's normal."

Darcy nodded and they went back to their food.

The next week Darcy was ready to play for Georgiana. There was the first layer on the canvas this time and it looked like Georgiana was spending a great deal of time looking at her iPad to get the colors correct.

As he played the requested songs from the previous week, he asked about her classmates' progress.

"Some of them have gotten far while others are struggling." Georgiana shrugged.

Darcy couldn't see her from the other side of the canvas.

"So I looked up the lyrics of 'You Don't Own Me', the model seems to be an interesting woman from her music choices."

"She is." came his sister's soft reply.

"Did I say something wrong?" he asked hesitantly.

"No, it's just. She's amazing and confident and smart." he heard her sigh, "I wish I could be like her, even a little more confident."

Darcy's fingers kept moving over the keys but he was staring at the back of the canvas. He wished he could help her get over her shyness, but he was out of ideas.

At dinner, they talked about nothing important and then retired for the night.

The next week Darcy was unfortunately behind on work he had to do before Monday. Emails still to read and respond to. That meant he wouldn't have time to spend with Georgiana. He sent her an apology through text and he settled into his chair at the office to begin reading.

Three hours later he was done and walking into his house, tired and ready to rest on the couch for a half an hour. To his surprise, however, he heard the familiar song playing from Georgiana's studio. Climbing the stairs, he knocked once before opening the door.

"Georgie? I didn't think you'd come home-"

"William!" Georgiana's smile that she had on quickly was replaced by horror and embarrassment. "You can't be in here!"

"I know you don't want me to see the paint-" Darcy finally noticed the other person in the room. A woman, draped partially by a cloth. She wasn't facing him and she was lying on his piano bench with her feet propped up on another chair. Darcy's hand flew up to cover his eyes and he shut them, turning his head away for good measure.

"I-I'm so so sorry. Forgive me." he stammered.

"It's no problem." came the woman's voice. "Being a model for art students, I get guy artist too. It's nothing new. You just can't touch."

Darcy took a deep breath but didn't remove his hand away from his eyes, "I'll let you get back to painting then. Sorry for interrupting."

He stayed downstairs, working on his laptop and even sent a few replies to invitations to dinner with friends.

An hour passed before he heard laughter and two people descending the stairs.

"Thanks again for meeting with me outside of class," Georgiana said shyly.

"It's no trouble at all. I'm glad to see someone so passionate about their work, and will gladly give them extra time if they need it. All I'm doing, after all, is lying around."

Georgiana quickly shook her head, "That's not true. You talk to us and make it less awkward. I love hearing your stories."

"Why thank you. See you next week in class then."

Darcy made his way to where the two were saying their goodbyes at the door.

"Why don't you stay for dinner?" asked Darcy, not sure what had come over him to offer. "The least we can do is feed you."

The woman smiled and Darcy saw those captivating eyes light up and her smile that took his breath away.

"That is very kind of you, but that isn't necessary. I have to go meet my sister in an hour and need to go home before then."

And with another smile and farewell to Georgiana, she was gone.

Darcy couldn't keep a conversation going at dinner, still thinking about the woman. Her beautiful eyes. Her smile. Her body on his piano bench!

 _God! How was he supposed to sit on that again?_

"Oh Will, I asked her if she wouldn't mind me doing a normal portrait of her and she agreed. I worked on that at the beginning and have the rough sketch of it done."

After dinner, his sister showed him the portrait of the woman with breathtaking features. He stared at it, not wanting to look away.

"She said I can do the first part of our time doing the portrait and then move on to the actual assignment from there."

Darcy wasn't sure if he heard correctly.

Was she coming back? If they were doing the portraits at the beginning, that meant he'd be able to sit in and watch... or play the piano like he was supposed to be doing.

"Would you...is it alright for me to play for you both during that time?"

Georgiana's smile grew bigger, "I told her that I've been having you play her song. She said she'd love to hear you play it, so that'd be great!"

All of a sudden Darcy became nervous. He didn't perform very often for others outside of his family, and this wasn't even the type of music he was used to playing. What if she messed up? She would no doubt be able to tell since she listens to the song so often.

Why the hell did he offer?!

The next week Darcy did his absolute best to finish everything ahead of time to make time for Georgiana and her guest. If there was something that he didn't get to by the end of the workday, he'd push it aside for later.

For his nerve's sake, he ran through the piece a couple times to make sure he had it right.

He heard Georgie downstairs coming in with the woman. Darcy stood next to the piano and waited for them to enter.

After greetings were exchanged the model sat down and Georgiana got to work.

Darcy took a deep breath and began playing a few classic pieces as warm up... and to show off a bit if he was being honest with himself. When he was ready to play her song, as he was beginning to refer to it as he tensed up when she said she was excited to hear it. Her voice sent shivers down his spine. The performance was a bit stiff, but luckily there were no errors. He no doubt looked like he was in pain the way his eyebrows were knitted together in a frown.

Once he completed it, he let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm sorry if I forced you to play something you didn't want to."

Darcy looked up to the repentant face on the woman.

"Huh? Oh no, that's not-I wasn't-I mean I was-but not like that." he tried to speak but his words were just jumbled up.

"Maybe it's time for me to start working on my homework assignment," Georgiana said softly.

It was his signal to leave and Darcy got up and said a barely audible goodbye before leaving the room, closing the door behind him.

Sighing, he went back to his room to get some work done.

At dinner, it was just the siblings after the model said that she was going out with a friend, Georgiana shared something with her brother.

"Her sister is a clothing model actually. Isn't that cool? One is an artist model while the other is a clothing model."

"What's her sister's name? I may have heard it before." Darcy asked nonchalantly, hoping to find the other model's name too.

"Jane."

"Jane what?"

"Well, she only goes by her first name. That agency only uses first names to protect their identity."

So much for that.

"You could just ask, you know, what my model's name is."

"I figured you were keeping that from me on purpose."

Georgiana shrugged, "I mean yes and no. It's not a big deal after all. Once we're done with this assignment we won't be needing a model again. She'll be working with another class."

Darcy slumped in his chair at the thought of not seeing her again.

The next weekend was to be the last time the two worked together outside of class and for Georgiana to finish the portrait. Darcy had played her song again, this time, without the nervousness he had the first time. When he was done, he saw the two females talking amongst each other and the woman smiled over at him for a brief moment. Darcy's heart raced and he wished she'd look at him again, but then Georgiana ushered him out of the room.

When she was at the door ready to leave, Georgiana handed her the portrait she had been doing of the model to her.

Darcy was a little disappointed that his sister was giving it away, but then to his surprise, the woman accepted a pen from Georgiana next and wrote on the canvas before handing the pen back to her and then looked to Darcy. She smiled again as she handed him the painting.

"I believe this was for you," she said with an arched eyebrow. Her eyes seemed to sparkle as they gazed up at him and he accepted the painting with robotic stiffness.

"Th-thank you. For all your help with Georgie."

She nodded and then left, for the last time.

Darcy looked down at the writing and saw in careful penmanship the name 'Elizabeth Bennet' under Georgiana's name.

"Elizabeth," he said in reverence as he stared at the painting. Georgiana captured her eyes and smile once more, but Darcy wanted to be the one to capture her.


End file.
